Check Out The Ridiculously Low Salaries That Young Tech CEOs Are Paying Themselves

We often picture the stereotypical startup CEO awash in cash in
their fancy apartment in Silicon Valley. After all, when you're a
startup founder, you're responsible for setting your own salary.
But in 2008,VC Peter Thiel said that the best
predictor of a startup's success is low pay for the CEO.

Turns out, more CEOs might be heeding Thiel's advice than we
would have thought, according to a bunch of data from
benchmarking company Compassprovided to The Next Web.

In Silicon Valley, 75% of founders pay themselves less than
$75,000 per year and 66% pay themselves less than $50,000 per
year, according to the data. Salaries also relate to the
current monthly revenue of the startups: The less revenue a
startup makes per month, the less founders are paying
themselves.

It also relates to the ages of founder. Founders who are 20
or younger pay themselves about $35,000, while founders between
41 and 50 give themselves around a $60,500 salary. The 2012
median household income in the US was $51,000, so those young
CEOs are keeping their budgets tight.

The data also showed that serial entrepreneurs pay
themselves significantly more than first-timers. Founders on
their first startup make about $42,000, while founders with two
previous startups behind them give themselves around $57,000. CEO
salaries rarely hit more than $50,000 a year until there are more
than ten people on payroll.